Niece trying to lose weight. Advice

Those number look 2x more than they should be, IMO. 

Also, exercise is not the way to lose weight.  Granted, it great for you in many other ways, but focus should NOT be on excersize but DIET if she wants to lose weight.

For example.  You can walk for an hour and burn 250 calories.  But eat one 1.75 oz bag of chips and it's all back.  I think many people think that working out lets them "cheat" more then they get surprised they don't drop any weight.

It's far easier to cut 2000 calories out of your diet per day than to burn 2000 in workouts. 

So stress DIET.

Could you ask her if you could get her an appointment with a nutritionist as some sort of gift?

I would suggest a structured eating plan like Weight Watchers.  This way she can make some positive changes to her diet, can still eat certain foods till she learns how to eat right.  It also holds her accountable for her calories and helps show how diet and exercise work together.  

Those numbers look inflated.  I would want to know how she is calculating those numbers.  Remember, to lose 1 lb you have to have -3500 calories for the week on a 1500 calorie a day diet.  I have been on this caloric intake for over a year and have gone from 220 lbs to 174 lbs., and still going strong.   I am not sure what her daily calorie intake is, but I have to agree, she may be using a false sense of calories burnt as a reason to eat more.  

That I would say is probably the problem there.   The "I can rewards myself" and processed foods are not good. 

Walking might be pretty close depends on the pass.  At 290 I was burning about 250 cals per mile (I was tested even).  20 min mile would give you 325 cals per 30 mins.

I could not tell you about the other works outs though. 

As I can tell other big thing is to count your cals.  this way you known how much your eating.  Funny how many times I have assumed things and found out later I was way off.

I can only echo what others have said, and add that it can be a very long battle for an obese person to accept reality about one's relationship with food.

I am a prime example. I started training at the end of 2010. At the beginning of 2012, I had no weight loss. I went from couch to 5k to 1/2 marathon, but I was still at the same weight.(And how much did people want to tell me "oh no, you gained muscle!!" Uh huh.)

When I started swimming, I would do an hour in the pool, which for me was an eternity then, and then the feeling of hunger and weakness would lead to binges on par with my worst pre-training days. Even then I knew I was definitely consuming more than I burned, but I convinced myself that until I was used to the training,it was ok, even necessary.

I addressed food finally, and now I am seeing steady weight loss. People know I have been running, and ask if that's how I am losing weight. I tell them straight up "no, it's not. I ran for a year with no weight loss."

For me, the admission that I acted like an addict was what I needed to get help. I won't say that everyone who wants to lose weight needs a similar program, but I honestly think there are way more compulsive overeaters than alcoholics out there. At her size and with the diet you describe, a structured outside intervention through a nutritionist is in order, with a support group of some kind.

Feel free to PM me if you want contact info so I can talk about my experience in OA. I also put it out quite non-anonymously on my blog.

For me, the training/exercise leads to a feeling that goes beyond the food/calories, and even as I am still not satisfied with my size, I can feel good while losing weight. But I started backwards, thinking I could train to lose weight. Turns out, I need to lose weight so I can train better. And, even one step further, I thought I'd become a better person if I lost weight. 12 step recovery has me trying to become a better person, so I can be healthy enough to lose weight, and THEN I can train right. So the challenge of going the distance is no longer my means to the end I thought I would get, it's becoming a barometer of the desired result.

Does any of that make sense?

1 cal per kg per km, whether you run or walk. So she should figure how FAR she's going in that 30 mins. Zumba depends on how hard she's working unfortunately. It's at least as good as walking though. 

I've kept my weight off for years and yet I still fight with it, and often get shocked every now and then. A milk-shake - yah, I know it's bad, but a small one from McDicks was SEVEN HUNDRED. I had no idea. 

Livestrong myplate, calorie buddy - they all seem to inflate the fitness burn rate. For running/biking I'm using their "casual" or "12 min mile" rates and it's close.

Well said Claaaw!

I steadily gained a few pounds a year until I found myself north of 30 pounds over weight.  My wife introduced me to WeightWatchers and I figured "Sure, I'll do this and lose the last 10 lbs I need".  Uh - no.  My clothes were still tight and I too was kidding myself saying it was because I was working out.

45 pounds later, I don't do WW anymore, but it taught me so much that if I ever get a little sideways, I have the tools to get back quickly before I do any real damage.

I really admire the hard work and patience it takes for heavier people to keep at it - chipping away with 1 - 3 pounds/week.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but after 50 weeks, that's between 50 and 150 pounds!!!

It's tough to know how to approach someone - my brother is very heavy and still thinks he can work himself into fitness.  Every time we try to talk with him - he doesn't want to hear it so I can certainly empathize.  It boils down to the axiom that a person won't change until they're ready to.  And when they're ready to - that is when you'll be able to throw all your support behind them in more obvious ways.

twomarks

Those numbers are likely from the online BMI based charts and calculator.

Way too high a number and definitely shouldn't be used as a reason to eat afterward.

I agree on the diet. Much more important than the exercise.

And let me tell you, from personal experience, it takes a mountain of intertia to get over the reality of this.

When you have to lose more than 100 pounds, it seems like 10 makes no difference. But all-or-nothing thinking is very often one of the traits that gets us into personal ruts in the first place.

Since January, I've been slowly dropping. I don't see it week to week. But people who don't see me often will remark "wow man, you're melting away!" And some who remember me even much heavier years ago, can really see it.

You can't drop 150 before you drop 10. And it does add up. My ultimate road will go from over 360, to I hope, about 180. That's pretty extreme. But any time I get moody about how long it takes, I remember the years of doing nothing and staying that huge, and that's far worse. I watched a couple episodes of my 600 pound life on TLC. I saw people over 700 pounds, who had then lost over 200 pounds, had two skin surgeries, and STILL weighed over 400 pounds. I mean, if they can have the patience needed for that kind of change, surely I can handle the slow slog from 250 downward, now that I've over halfway there from 360.

And x1000 on no one being able to talk anyone into it. I am a cheap SOB (except spending on hobbies like tri apparently) but even a wager and a financial incentive in a contest were not enough to get me to actually do what I knew I could do. And now it is hard for me to be too passively quiet when I see so many who could easily make changes. But luckily, my outward appearance changes, coupled with my better interior attitude, have made me approachable enough that people ask all the time "what are you doing?" And I gently tell them, without saying "you should....." I just tell the truth.

Another problem is shows like Biggest Loser.  Though they talk about diet, they seem to put way too much emphasis on training. 

Yeah, if you could train 8-10 hours a day, it makes a difference.  But no one can do that unless it's their job.  When I peak  for IM's, it's almost 20 hours a week - only 3 hours a day, and that's REALLY hard to maintain.  Even then, I don't lose that much weight.  A 6 hour bike ride can be completely wiped out with a bad day of eating.  That's about 4-5k burned over 6 hours, but that's pretty easy to consume if you go to a football party and indulge in pizza, appitizers, beer, etc.  6 hours on the bike is HARD compared to saying no to a plate full of nachos.

Today's post - 2 hours and 30 minutes house cleaning 774 calories burned.

Wow

Whatever she is using, it's doing her a disservice, especially if she is going to base what she can eat on those numbers.  No wonder why people "think" they are doing everything they can and not losing weight.

And the program/software may not be wrong, but she is making incorrect assumptions or being too liberal.

myfitnesspal.com

I use it, I LOVE IT

Whatever they give me for calories burned though, I usually cut that in half.

Seriously!  I have to agree, that she needs to find a way to get an accurate idea of her body fat measurements, and find a way to get to a nutritionist as Claaw said.  I think she needs more education on the whole process, that is why I suggested a weight loss program like Weight Watchers.  I like that Weight Watchers keeps me accountable.  

I used to use a program to calculate my calories burned, then was given an actual watch to train with that used my weight, height, and my heart rate to give me a more accurate reading.  I was surprised to find out how off base it was to begin with.  No wonder I wasn't seeing the results before I found out I wasn't calculating my calories in vs. out correctly.  

Not sure how close or how much desire you want to help.  But I use a FitBit.  It tracks your movements and wirelessly uploads the data to an online logging system to include milage and floors ascended.  You also select food items from the menu AND can add additional workouts that the device can't pick up (cycling, swimming, weight lifting).  It even logs your sleep, tracks your weight loss, HR, BP - whatever you want to include.  And yes, it includes house cleaning, yardwork, even sex as "extra" activities.  I plugged in "household chores" and it DID give me about 800 calories burned for 2.5 hours.  But that was at a "vigorous" effort - opposed to light or moderate.  So maybe the program she uses is not wrong, but she is VERY liberal with what she puts in.

It costs 100 bucks, and the logs are free.

livestrong.com has a free logging system including food and workouts.

I used to spend a lot of time on myfooddiary.com and this was a common issue. I think the least "leaded" way to approach her is to suggest she use an online tool to track both food and exercise and that "often I've found the exercise calculators aren't accurate so it helps to see trends."    Over time, if she's honest about the food eaten (which is hard too) and the exercise, she can determine what her true calorie burn rate is.  Hopefully she will see how it works out and adjust accordingly.  If she can't be honest enough with herself to do that, she is probably not yet ready to face the music.     I think it takes a few times of trying until it hits home.

I personally like the "My Plate" tool at Livestrong.com.  They have a big database of food and it's easy to use. http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/  It's free.

I wouldn't do anything that appears to discourage what she is doing now, though.  But if she ever says "i am trying but I am not losing weight" it's a great excuse to start a discussion about food choices, etc. 

Tought situation - i wouldn't wade into anything with her about the accuracy of those calories burned until you let her tell you what her approach is ... start the conversation first.  It looks like she's making a good start and probably could use help but it would be really important not to deter her with any negative talk.  You could ask her if she wouldn't mind help or you sending along nutrition information, links, recipes, articles, etc.  Being on a triathlon site, i am sure she knows that you're health conscious ...